The team responded well: Dhoni

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was lavish in his praise for his bowlers and Virat Kohli for scripting a eight-wicket win against Pakistan in their Super Eights match of T20 WC.

"The team responded well and the bowlers bowled really well to restrict Pakistan to a small total. After a couple of overs (in Pakistan innings), we settled down, Zak ( Zaheer Khan) and Irfan Pathan bowled well," Dhoni said after the match.

"The part-time bowlers did a very good job and that was crucial as we were playing with seven batsmen," he said.

"Then Virat played an excellent innings. Viru ( Virender Sehwag) also batted well. We lost Gauti ( Gautam Gambhir) early, that's was a setback because he can play spin really well," he added.

Asked about Kohli's excellent form with the bat, Dhoni said he was happy that the youngster was shouldering a lot of responsibility.

"It's good that Kohli is taking the responsibility. He has been someone who has been consistent in the last one and half years. It is good that a batsman has been in consistent form and others are revolving around him," said the skipper.

Having been thrashed by Australia in their opening Super 8s, India faced a must win situation against Pakistan but Dhoni said India did not feel the pressure in the game.

"We were not desperate to win today. I always felt that if you are desperate for a win, you put more pressure on yourself. There is no point doing that. We want to live in the present and not think too far ahead of ourselves," he said.

"We had a very relaxed dressing room atmosphere. Before the match started today, I could see there were some positive energy among the players and I thought we would do well today," he said.

Kohli, who was named the Man of the Match for his excellent knock, said the reason he was able to perform well was because he remained calm.

"The key is to stay as calm as possible. In the last game I thought a bit too much. But today I was at my normal self, relaxed and calm. The idea is to play 10-15 overs and the team benefits from it," he said.

"It does not get any better for me than helping India win against Pakistan. It was a high-pressure game. God has been kind to me, I am being able to help India win matches," he added.

A disappointed Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez also praised Kohli for his fine knock on a difficult track.

"It was a difficult pitch to bat on but Kohli was excellent. We were hoping to get him out and put pressure on the rest but we couldn't do that," he said.

Asked if it was a mental block that Pakistan have never beaten India in a World Cup game, Hafeez said, "Not really. We wanted to win. We just did not get the partnerships. We were aiming for 150 total but we could not do that.

"We dropped some catches also and we need to improve in our fielding also," he said.

"We still have a chance. We have to work hard now and come back with some positive energy and win against Australia," he added.

Unbeatable on their day, mesmerising the opposition and haplessly poor on the other, collapsing like 9 pins, but Nikhil Narain finds out why they have been so consistent in the shortest format of the game.